As Decider has covered before, the late 2000s were a difficult time for Disney. The company’s original animated movies were no longer consistently dominating the box office, and it had yet to see returns on its $7.4 billion investment in Pixar. During this time in Disney animation, a time marked by forgettable films and lackluster experiments, an unexpected hero emerged for the animation side of the mega-corporation — a little film by the name of Bolt.

When it was released in 2008, Disney had several hits, but few of them came from the company’s original animation branch. From the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to Enchanted, live action movies were performing well for the company in the 2000s. Likewise Pixar was still turning out blockbuster hits. This eight-year period produced six Pixar films including its best performing film of all time, Finding Nemo, which made $940 million worldwide. But Disney was still just a distribution branch for Pixar, and the company’s own ventures into the world of original animation were inconsistent at best.

Often described as Disney’s Post-Renaissance period, there were a few successes during this time. 2000’s ambitious CGI film Dinosaur and 2004’s silly Chicken Little both cleared the $300 million worldwide mark, making $349 million and $314 million respectively. Lilo & Stitch ($273 million) and Brother Bear ($250 million) were also moderate successes. But six of Disney’s original movies released during this time failed to clear the $200 million mark. The incredibly expensive Treasure Planet made a shockingly low $109 million against its massive $140 million budget, and Fantasia 2000 performed even worse, only making $90 million. Disney’s original animation was in a slump and it needed a ringer.

That ringer surprisingly came in the form of Bolt, a cute film about a TV star dog (John Travolta) who believes he really does have superpowers. After his human Penny (Miley Cyrus) is kidnapped as part of his show’s series finale, Bolt panics, breaks out of his set, and is accidentally sent to New York. The rest of the film follows Bolt, his sassy cat friend Mittens (Susie Essman), and his over-eager hamster friend Rhino (Mark Walton) as he tries to get back to Penny.

Photo: Everett Collection

When it premiered, Bolt had middling results at the domestic box office, only bringing $114 million. That number inflated to $309 million when it went worldwide. But during this era of Disney animated films, clearing $300 million and gaining high critical praise was a welcome relief. After Bolt premiered, gone were the inconsistent CGI-focused films of Disney’s past like Meet the Robinsons and Home on the Range. In their place was a storytelling model Disney could tweak and recreate.

That’s Bolt’s real legacy; it got Disney’s original animation back on track while giving it a template for success. The film was Disney’s first feature film to be produced completely under the guidance of Pixar’s John Lasseter. Bolt in tangent with The Princess and the Frog sparked the Disney Revival, a period that’s led to mega-successes like Tangled, Frozen, and Moana. And that spark came from a tiny dog with a lightning bolt on his back.

But despite all the good this adorable pup has done for Disney animation’s modern history, Bolt isn’t a movie that’s often mentioned in conversations about classic or important Disney films. It’s rarely mentioned at all, which is a shame. Even if you strip the movie of its historical importance, Bolt is a solid, loving movie with the emotional moments that come straight out of Pixar’s playbook. Now that it’s on Netflix this weekend, give it a rewatch. It’s worth it.